Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[Parasaurolophus]

Today, whoever used the classroom before me shut the computer down. I couldn't access the podium to turn it back on because I lost my keys sometime last winter (somewhere in the house...). I went to IT, but they were closed for the next hour, so I got the department's spare podium key (which involves a ten-minute hike uphill). The key didn't fit that podium. So I lectured propless for an hour, to my students' beglazement, then went to get the spare from IT. Only to discover IT has no more spares left, despite having two for every faculty member.

It's just one of those days.

[Larimar]

Today, whoever used the classroom before me shut the computer down. I couldn't access the podium to turn it back on because I lost my keys sometime last winter (somewhere in the house...). I went to IT, but they were closed for the next hour, so I got the department's spare podium key (which involves a ten-minute hike uphill). The key didn't fit that podium. So I lectured propless for an hour, to my students' beglazement, then went to get the spare from IT. Only to discover IT has no more spares left, despite having two for every faculty member.

It's just one of those days.

I love the coining "beglazement". Everyone on the fora has probably seen the look aplenty and need no explanation! Good one.

[FishProf]

I had to do that last week.  Hallway through the 1hr15 min lecture, a student asked if I would be posting the lecture online.

Reflexively, I just said "How?"

[the_geneticist]

I posted a reminder that students can get permission to attend another discussion that same week if they ask in advance, list the section(s) they could attend, and there are available seats.
I've had 4 emails saying "oops, I was absent, but any discussion Fridays is good".
There are no discussions on Fridays

[apl68]

I posted a reminder that students can get permission to attend another discussion that same week if they ask in advance, list the section(s) they could attend, and there are available seats.
I've had 4 emails saying "oops, I was absent, but any discussion Fridays is good".
There are no discussions on Fridays

Well, at least you weren't on a faculty search where the candidate asked whether it would be possible not to have any classes to teach on Fridays.  We've heard on the Fora of things like that happening. 

[the_geneticist]

I posted a reminder that students can get permission to attend another discussion that same week if they ask in advance, list the section(s) they could attend, and there are available seats.
I've had 4 emails saying "oops, I was absent, but any discussion Fridays is good".
There are no discussions on Fridays

Well, at least you weren't on a faculty search where the candidate asked whether it would be possible not to have any classes to teach on Fridays.  We've heard on the Fora of things like that happening. 

"No teaching on Fridays"?  LOL!
If the answer is that there are no classes on Friday afternoons (yes, I worked at a tiny college that did this), it means you will be in committee/department/college meetings all afternoon.
If the answer is, "maybe, if you teach all T Th classes", then your more senior colleagues get first pick.

Unless there is a very particular reason for a limited time (medical care?), then the answer is you have unreasonable expectations, seek employment elsewhere.

[RatGuy]

Student showed up today 45 minutes into a 50-minute class. Today was group presentations -- students had a homework to complete individually, and placed in groups based on the assigned topic. So he enters the class just as I'm wrapping up my conclusion. Then as students file out, turning in work, he asks "can I make up the group activity?" No, you've missed it.

He starts crying.

He tells me this story about a leak in his apartment as a reason for his absence. Says its not fair that it was out of his control. I say "that's why I drop the lowest grade." He says he's already got a number of other zeroes.

"Do you have your homework?"
No.
"Did you do a response on today's reading?"
No.
"It seems to me it's not just this one thing, is it?"

I'm sympathetic to students who struggle with extra-curricular stuff, but this is a kid who manages time poorly, doesn't attend regularly, and flails about with tears in his eyes anytime he's told he can't make up a missed assignment. It's totally draining.

[the_geneticist]

Student showed up today 45 minutes into a 50-minute class. Today was group presentations -- students had a homework to complete individually, and placed in groups based on the assigned topic. So he enters the class just as I'm wrapping up my conclusion. Then as students file out, turning in work, he asks "can I make up the group activity?" No, you've missed it.

He starts crying.

He tells me this story about a leak in his apartment as a reason for his absence. Says its not fair that it was out of his control. I say "that's why I drop the lowest grade." He says he's already got a number of other zeroes.

"Do you have your homework?"
No.
"Did you do a response on today's reading?"
No.
"It seems to me it's not just this one thing, is it?"

I'm sympathetic to students who struggle with extra-curricular stuff, but this is a kid who manages time poorly, doesn't attend regularly, and flails about with tears in his eyes anytime he's told he can't make up a missed assignment. It's totally draining.

Poor student is going through a lot, but we can't excuse them from actually *doing the work*.

I have become of fan of the "we drop everyone's lowest score, no reason needed" policy.  If a student has a rough week for any reason, they can shake it off.  There has to be a firm limit - at some point they will not have completed enough of the class to have actually earned the credit hours.

[mythbuster]

The problem I run into with dropping the lowest score is I see too many students blow though the freebie in the first week or two of class. They can't seem to grasp that planning as if you are NOT going to have zero is a better approach.

[kaysixteen]

What will be the consequences for his groupmates for his having blown off the group presentation?

[ciao_yall]

I posted a reminder that students can get permission to attend another discussion that same week if they ask in advance, list the section(s) they could attend, and there are available seats.
I've had 4 emails saying "oops, I was absent, but any discussion Fridays is good".
There are no discussions on Fridays

Well, at least you weren't on a faculty search where the candidate asked whether it would be possible not to have any classes to teach on Fridays.  We've heard on the Fora of things like that happening. 

"No teaching on Fridays"?  LOL!
If the answer is that there are no classes on Friday afternoons (yes, I worked at a tiny college that did this), it means you will be in committee/department/college meetings all afternoon.
If the answer is, "maybe, if you teach all T Th classes", then your more senior colleagues get first pick.

Unless there is a very particular reason for a limited time (medical care?), then the answer is you have unreasonable expectations, seek employment elsewhere.

Who was that professor who had their offer withdrawn after a 3 page list of requests like that?

I mean, negotiating is fine... but a list of ways you would like to be excused from doing the JOB they are PAYING you to do defies all common sense.

[RatGuy]

What will be the consequences for his groupmates for his having blown off the group presentation?

Not really, especially since it didn't seem that he'd done his portion anyway. I will say that no one in that group really seemed ready or had a strong grasp of their topic. But that class has an interesting dynamic, given the high percentage of thoughtful, engaged, pleasant students. Usually they're in the minority, so the heavy lifting of discussion falls to me. But this class pretty much runs itself, and the few stragglers like Crying Student are conspicuous in contrast.

And I agree with the human upthread who said that sometimes it's tough to be sympathetic when students have a crisis every week. I have a generous makeup policy -- in addition to a dropped zero, I also allow students to request an alternate assignment in advance if they're going to miss for medical reasons. I don't even ask for a doctor's note. It helps those good students who do happen to get the October Crud. But students such as Crying Student who just can't get their lives together, well, they usually flake on those assignments too.

[the_geneticist]

The problem I run into with dropping the lowest score is I see too many students blow though the freebie in the first week or two of class. They can't seem to grasp that planning as if you are NOT going to have zero is a better approach.

They'd probably skip a class or forget an assignment anyway.  Can't save them from themself.
It does help folks who just had a rough week or struggled with a particular topic or got sick.

[apl68]

The problem I run into with dropping the lowest score is I see too many students blow though the freebie in the first week or two of class. They can't seem to grasp that planning as if you are NOT going to have zero is a better approach.

When students treat an emergency grace drop meant to be hoarded against emergency as a freebie to be expended at the first moment, you know who must have flunked the "marshmallow test" as children.

[EdnaMode]

I'm on my School's promotion and tenure committee and am currently reviewing a dossier. At my institution, student evals and comments are included in the dossier. Here's a direct quote:

"This course is challenging because all the assignments are created by him so there are less resources for help online. I have to talk to him and my peers to get help. This is challenging."

In other words, because your engineering professor writes all his own problems, it makes it harder to cheat by finding the answers on Chegg or elsewhere online... perhaps that's WHY he writes his own problems. A lot of us do. We know you cheat and will work harder at avoiding work, than you would actually doing the work.